Kamis, 01 September 2016

THE SPIRIT !!! (The Process)



After completing my IELTS training and got a good result, I was in the state to decide the university that I wanted.. My office asked me to take Master in Statistics, just like my Bachelor degree.. Yeah, as a civil servant, you should follow your office rules.. At that time, the requirement for master degree that are needed in my office were Statistics, Economic and IT.. How could the office allow me to choose other degree if I had what their needs..Fiuh...

I started to select the universities with statistics program.. My scholarship had limitation, as I the last batch of SPIRIT part I, I must finish the study within a year which is until December 2017.. I can't choose 2 years program. I decided UK as the university country because only UK, a country that has a year program for Statistics.

My choices were Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, St Andrews and Essex University.. I got offers from them.. I was confused to choose, I checked the modules from all of them, I decided go to Essex University.. I knew that 4 of them are the best 100 universities in the world, but I could not neglect the modules. Essex University had the module that I wanted.. so, I got Unconditional Offer from Essex University..Don't forget to ask the Guarantee Letter for your financial support from the Bappenas, because without it, you can't get the Unconditional Offer.

The process before starting the study was (I can say) very long.. We use a system called TRANSPAR, which is the important system for communicating with the Bappenas team. After I got the Unconditional Offer, I needed to do some paper work in the Office. The next steps are :
  1. Upload the Unconditional Offer in the TRANSPAR and you will get an email to prepare some documents in your office (Rincian Pembiayaan dari Kampus, Formulir Pra Keberangkatan, Formulir Penempatan Kembali, CV, Foto 3x4 (2 lembar), Surat Tugas Belajar, Surat Perjanjian Dua Pihak (SP2P)). The documents were used to make Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P) in Bappenas. 
  2. Prepare Rincian Pembiayaan dari Kampus, Formulir Pra Keberangkatan, Formulir Penempatan Kembali, CV, Foto 3x4 (2 lembar), Surat Tugas Belajar, Surat Perjanjian Dua Pihak (SP2P) in your office. Some letters need to be signed by Sekretaris Utama. I needed 2 weeks for this process. 
  3. Ask for Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P) in Bappenas. After got all document from the office, I went to Bappenas to submit them. It was 3 weeks after, I got the Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P). This documents were important to recommend your permits in Sekretaris Negara and Kementerian Luar Negeri.
  4. Make a KTLN letter in Sekretaris Negara which is a permit from your country to go abroad. Bring all your documents from your office and Bappenas. All of civil servants need this document to travel to other countries. The process is 3 working day, but sometimes it depends on the officer. I made this permit with a help from my colleague in the office (I paid Rp500.000).
  5. Make a service passport in Kementerian Luar Negeri. The KTLN letter is important as a recommendation to make a passport. We need to bring photo with white background and copy of SK PNS signed by Kepala Biro Kepegawaian. Since I had a passport before, I didn't need to make it.
  6. We also need an Exit Permit in Kementerian Luar Negeri. Exit Permit is a sticker pasted in the passport that prove you are allowed to go abroad using service passport. The exit permit only valid for 2 months.
  7. After all the documents complete, we need process the VISA.

To apply the UK Visa we need prepare some document, some documents need to be translated are Birth Certificate and Family Card. The list of documents needed are :
  1. Paspor asli (baru dan lama)
  2. Hasil tes TBC (asli & fotokopi) – terlampir approved Clinic Test (in Jakarta you can go to RS Premier Jatinegara or Bintaro, but dont forget to make a reservation before come)
  3. CV terbaru
  4. IELTS asli
  5. Ijasah & transkrip (asli dan copy legalisir)
  6. CAS Statement (di keluarkan oleh university apabila sudah membayar deposit fee/full fees atau sudah mendapatkan letter of Guarantee)
  7. Akte lahir (asli & translation)
  8. Kartu keluarga (asli & translation)
  9. Letter of Guarantee from Bappenas
The procedure for UK Visa is online, I started with making my account in
https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa. I paid two kind of cost for UK-Visa student, which were $440 for the visa and $301,5 for the IHS (health insurance). All of them was online, by using credit card. After I paid, I got the information about date and time to make an appointment. You must come in your appointment time or we can change the appointment time before.

I had my appointment at 8 August 2016 in VFS Jakarta Visa Application Centre. It is better to come 5 minutes before our time because the securities wouldn't allow you enter the office if you are too early. After entering the office, there were a long queue. I waited again until the officer called my name. I waited more than 2 hours, maybe because it was crowded..But there was advantage too, I did not need to do the interview also.. Basically, to make UK Visa we need to be interviewed by the Officer in the Sheffield online, but the interview only happens from 12 to 15 pm. 

They informed me the result will be in 15 days. I got the email about my UK Visa result in 23 August 2015, which was exactly 15 days. The student visa is valid only for 2 months, we need to collect our BRP after 10 days arrived in the UK. And we use BRP for the rest our time in the UK.


~Always there is a long process before a good thing happens~

KEEP THE SPIRIT



Selasa, 30 Agustus 2016

The SPIRIT !!! (The IELTS party)


Senin, 30 Agustus 2016



Maret-Agustus 2016 saya tidak perlu masuk ke kantor (tapi di gaji si....). Untuk apalagi kalo bukan les bahasa Inggris. Beasiswa SPIRIT ini menurut saya kompletnya luar biasa, dari les, tes sampe daftar semua mua dicover lhoo.. Saya cuma modal ikut tes doang di awal, habis lulus, tim SPIRIT sudah ngatur semua.

Disaat teman2 kantor saya cuma 3 bulan les, saya kedapetan les 6 bulan, kenapa ?? karena nilai TOEFL saya dibawah 550, haha...(bangga karena ga ngantor 6 bulan). Untuk batch saya, ada 160 an orang lolos, yang mana 103 bersama saya les 6 bulan.. Kami kebagian les di Inlingua, apa itu?? Yak saya juga baru tau, ini tempat les inggris yang khusus untuk pre departure macam kami ini. Kebetulan lokasinya agak-agak jauh (kalo dari kos saya di Tebet), yaitu di Puri Indah, Jakarta Barat. Akhirnya saya sampe harus pindah kos biar deket.

Ngapain aja 6 bulan itu?? "ya les inggris laaah"

Kami kembali seperti anak sekolah, berangkat jam 8 pulang jam 16. Di Inlingua kelas dibagi menjadi beberapa bagian.. Kebetulan saya ditempatkan di kelas C (Cambridge), yang berarti nilai TOEFL tengah2 (520-530).. Hari kedua masuk, kami harus ikut tes IELTS, katanya hasil tes ini dipake untuk pembagian kelas berikutnya agar tidak bervariasi penyebaran kemampuannya.. Di Cambridge, saya belajar Inggris Dasar selama 2 minggu, sembari menunggu pembagian kelas baru sesuai tes IELTS. Hasilnya ga mengejutkan, 4,5 itu skor IELTS pertama saya...haha... dan 2 bulan kelas IELTS pun di mulai. Dengan modal 4,5 itu, saya bisa naik pangkat dari kelas C ke kelas B (Berlin).

Disini kami ditarget untuk mencapai IELTS 6,5 minimal, sesuai requirement Universitas, haha...Hard but not imposible... IELTS tes sendiri dibagi menjadi 4 bagian, LISTENING, READING, WRITING dan SPEAKING. Kalo yang belum pernah tes IELTS, dan pernahnya TOEFL sahaja pasti kaget liat jenis soalnya.. Ga cuma pilihan ganda, ada juga soal isiannya..jujur awal2 saya siyoook beraat. Belum lagi WRITINGnya yang topiknya kadang susah dan SPEAKING nya langsung dengan Native Speaker. Untung guru2 di Inlingua sangat membantu perkembangan kami, tips mereka joss tenan.. Kelas saya diberi 2 native teacher, one for Speaking (Nate) and one for Writing (Barry).. Nate dari Amrik lho, lucu si walo kadang garing tapi tips buat Speakingnya manjur bangeet, mungkin karena dia dulu examiner IELTS juga. Terus ada Barry, hmm, a British man, galak, strict, jadul, misterius dan jarang senyum.. sepertinya banyak yang trauma dengan Barry, tapi saya ambil positifnya aja dan mempraktekkan tips Writing dari dia.. Yang Indonesia juga baik, ada Ms Tessa for reading and Ms Amy for Listening. They were also helpful.. Tiap hari kami dicekokin IELTS dan IELTS... 

Berikut link semua buku untuk IELTS via google drive..



Berliners


Dan tes IELTS bisa diadakan di Inlingua (mungkin karena kita banyakan), kita tidak perlu jauh2 daftar ke IDP atau British Council (BC).. Oh ya di Indonesia, tes IELTS resmi cuma ada di beberapa lembaga aja, seperti IDP, BC atau IALF.. Harga tes IELTS cukup menguras kantong, sekali tes $250, setara Rp 2.740.000.. jadi kalo mau tes, bener2 kudu persiapan yaa... Alhamdulillah SPIRIT mengcover 2 kali tes IELTS.. Tes IELTS pertama saya tanggal 30 April 2016.. For Listening, menurut saya cukup sulit, terutama pilihan ganda, entah kenapa saya jadi prefer soal isian daripada pilihan ganda. Saya lemah banget untuk Listening, dan di IELTS semua jawaban tidak ada yang sama dengan pilihan gandanya, tapi kita harus tau sinonim atau padanan kata yang dimaksud. Reading part ga terlalu sulit kalo pinter ngatur waktu, tapi kita diberi 3 jenis essay panjang, dan diberi waktu cuma 1 jam untuk menyelesaikannya. Kunci disini, kita tidak boleh terlena hanya di satu essay saja. Sama halnya dengan WRITING part, kita diberi waktu 1 jam, untuk mengerjakan 2 essay, pertama tentang deskripsi grafik atau tabel (150 kata) dan kedua essay tentang opini kita ke suatu hal (250 kata).. Setelah 2,5 jam berkutat dengan ujian serius, kita harus menunggu giliran kita untuk SPEAKING tes karena examinernya cuma 1 guys.. Saya antri lebih dari 3 jam.. Tes SPEAKING paling hanya 5 menit, tapi, menentukan segalanyaa... Waktu itu examiner saya orang keturunan China, kayanya agak sakit soalnya suaranya nyaris tak jelas (atau saya yang bud*g)...saya dikasi topik tentang "Memory", ya susah2 gampang.. 2 menit saya harus mendeskripsikan tentang Foto yang berkesan untuk saya.. cuma saya agak nyesek pas keluar, karena grogi jadi tidak bisa mengeluarkan apa yg di otak semaksimal mungkin..


Hasil tes saya keluar tanggal 7 Mei 2016, tapi karena saya merasa ragu dengan hasil di tes pertama, saya memutuskan untuk daftar tes kedua tanggal 21 Mei 2016. Saat itu, daftar tes IELTS cukup sulit karena sepertinya semua orang yang bersiap sekolah ke luar negeri juga tes IELST di waktu2 yang sama dengan saya.. jadi banyak yang full.. tes ielts ini cuma ada di weekend sahaja..kenapa?? saya mikirnya mungkin nunggu bulenya libur kerja kaaan...

Tanggal 7 Mei 2016, hasil saya keluar dan saya mendapat Skor IELTS 7, Listening 7, Reading 7.5, Writing 6.5 dan Speaking 6.5.. Oh ya skor listening overall ini pembulatan ke atas untuk masing2 skor yaa...Saya bersyukur sekali dengan hasil yang saya dapat, dan saya bisa melanjutkan ke tahap selanjutnya untuk menyelesaikan pendaftaran ke universitas.


Hasil tes kedua saya ?? Haha, jangan ditanya... jelas melorot, Overall cuma 6.5.. Kadang niat dan keteguhan hati diperlukan untuk hasil maksimal... Berkesan sekali kegiatan di Inlingua, diakhir ada cooking competition dan grup saya menaaang... Kami mendapat hadiah puluhan dvd asli dari Barry (he's not that bad..:))



Cooking competition

Senin, 14 Maret 2016

The SPIRIT !!! (the beginning)

Keep your SPIRIT up!! 
Yak..ini adalah nama salah satu grup chat yang sekarang sangat mendominasi di hape saya. Dibilang grup motivasi, memang sangat memotivasi khususnya untuk kelanjutan program beasiswa membernya. 

SPIRIT (Scholarship Program for Strengthening the Reforming) is a scholarship managed by Bappenas from World Bank loan, especially for civil servants who work in institutions that are judged supporting the birocracy reforms in Indonesia. They are Kemendagri, Kemenlu, Kemenpan, Bappenas, BPK, BPKP, BKPM, BKN, LAN and BPN. SPIRIT open for master degree and Phd degree. And now, I'm awardee of this SPIRIT for the master degree, together with other nine friends from my institutions. SPIRIT have started since 2013, and in 2017 all the awardee must finishthe study, which means 2016 is the last year for studying with SPIRIT, so I'm in the last term of SPIRIT.

I applied SPIRIT accidentally. At first, I tried to apply Pusbindiklatren scholarship only for domestic university, but I am late. So, I decided to apply SPIRIT without knowing I will be accepted. I can say that it is easy enough to get this scholarship compared with other scholarship. The requirement was very simple, only filled out the form, signed a letter of willingness join the selection and collected a CV, a copy of my bachelor certificate and transcript. The selection process was also simple and fast. The important specification was we should have worked for our institution for 2 years after becoming civil servants.

Submitting all the requirements in the end of January 2016, I had to take a TPA on 4 February 2016 and TOEFL test on 5 February 2016. There were approximately 500 civil servants taking the test. The TPA test was about our intelligence skill while Toefl Test was about our english skill. The tests took 3 hours to finish. For the TPA test, make sure you are not trapped only in certain questions.

The result came up very fast. On 15 February, i got my result and I had to come for interview related my plan on master degree on 17 February 2016. The interviewers were 3 persons from Bappenas dan my institution. They asked me about my motivation, what can I do after I got my master degree and why I choose the program. Because this year is the last year of SPIRIT, i had to choose a master program that can be finished on 2017. Discussing with my supervisor about my program, she asked me to choose a program related with my bachelor degree, Statistics. It was so hard to find a year statistics master program outside United Kingdom. Neither universities in America nor Australia could offer a year program in Statistics (or maybe I couldn't find it). Based on this reason, i chose university in UK. 

And finally, I got the SPIRIT....It was hard to accept...because I didn't really want this scholarship. Remembering there were so many people pursue this scholarship, I realized that I had to thank God for giving me this opportunity.